Concert: Juliette & The Licks - Atomic Cafe

You're all going to be kicking yourselves if you miss this one.

Highly-charged balls-out rock and roll with Juliette Lewis doing what Iggy did in 1969, except she does it in just a bikini!!!

http://www.julietteandthelicks.com

http://www.juliette-lewis.com

the place atomic cafe sucks big time!!!

I have always had a thing for Juliette Lewis, she is a minx!!

A bit sceptical about her musical talents though...

@bd
Have you even been there? One of the better clubs in Munich.

@Sin ..do you know if you can get tickets in advance ? or just on the door that evening ? as far as i remember Atomic Cafe does door only ticket slaes for gigs which may mean waiting outside in advance for quite a while ...

Muenchen Ticket have them, and probably most of the other ticket agencies.

Cheers Sin, nearly missed that one

geez, and she was engaged to brad pitt!

I've already got my tickets.

I don't know about Juliette Lewis' acting skills - never seen a film with her in it (to my knowledge), but by f**k can she perform on stage. She should knock the acting lark on the head and stick to the music...

...dynamite stuff.

Filth introduced me to her about 2 years ago by playing a cover she had sung of PJ Harvey's Hardly Wait. It was on some soundtrack album of a film I believe she starred in. I already knew PJ's original and was knocked out by the power in Lewis' singing. Since then my own band, JulieFilth&Sin, have been performing the song live (I even added a third verse to make it a bit darker with graveyard sex overtones).

If you go to www.julietteandthelicks.com check out the MP4 video of Shelter Your Needs (the one directed by Lightfield Lewis).

WHAT A STAGE PRESENCE?

This girl's in nothing but a bikini... crowd surfing.

I believe this is the most exiting new act I have come across since The Sex Pistols.

Then the club situation must be worse than I thought. I've been there and wouldn't be bothered to go back again.

I've never been to the Atomic in all the time I've been here. I've heard it is a dive. Tell me somewhere that isn't.

Besides, I'm not going so that I can appeciate the wallpaper in the men's toilets.

I'm going for rock 'n' roll.

That's what great about the Atomic Cafe, it is a small place, and it usually fills up quickly. They have the bands that you will hear about playing there and not the bands that you have already heard. They have a great group of people that go there, and I always have a great time, but it does get crowded.

Iggy did it without a bikini.

Does she have a pair of silver trousers ?

Of course if I do go I'll be going for the music and not in anyway expressing an interest in Ms. Lewis slightly depraved looks.

@Yeti,

Yes mate. All the times I saw Iggy, I never saw him in a bikini. You're right. Saw him in a lot of strange attire, but NEVER in a bikini.

When I said that she (Juliette Lewis) was crowd surfing in a bikini, I wasn't necessarily referring to the fact that she was a skantily clad girl on stage. What I meant was that here was a girl with fuckin' HUGE balls to be crowd surfin' in a bikini. That takes bottle and guts, and that is what impressed me.

As for the music - it is raw, energetic and exciting. I'm not bothered she was/is an actress. I'm not bothered that she dresses minimally on stage. I just love her and the band's music and musical style.

As for The Atomic Cafe - I don't care where they are playing, it could be a public urinals for all I care. I'm not going for the venue.

After two and a half decades of mostly bullshit music; manufactured, pre-packaged and controlled - supply and demand - from both ends of the market, or music that you need to take Ecstacy to enjoy, this is what I have been waiting for.

OK, I conceed that there has been a few diamonds in amongst the turds, but this band fulfills something I crave in live music - adrelanine.

Live music , adrenalin, amplifiers, a dive.
No , no , no!
We can't stand for this sort of thing.

Perturbed,

Neuperlach

Im off to get tickets lunchtime.

@Yeti,

CU there man

wasnt she in Natural Born Killers?

Even better, she was in Kalifornia.

and Dodge Ball

Those are films right?

she was also in 'what's eating gilbert grape ? :-) got me tickets now for atomic cafe ...reckon this will be a happening, maaaaan...

I will be there!!!
Hey Sin! Where is my ticket??

As a offshoot from my kids conspiracy to prevent me watching 6 Nations matches, (I don't mind really) work has now decided to send me off to Bodensee when I should be going to this.

Does anybody know if it's a problem getting tickets at the door on the night?

Thanks.

Where's my beer BITCH?

I'll get you a beer at the concert if you promise to wear fishnets...again

I can't!!!

My only pair are full of holes

Am I pleased with myself... You Betcha!

That was one of the most intense concerts I have been to in 20-odd years. Zero bullshit Rock 'n' Roll. Up there in the top 10 best gigs EVER.

I just knew this was NOT TO BE MISSED. I had a strong feeling just from seeing a couple of videos of The Licks' gigs in the LA area, and having a few of their tracks downloaded on MP3's, that this would be the gig of the year in Munich. I defy any other act to top what occurred last night.

The Atomic Cafe was packed to (probably) over-capacity, more people gathered outside without tickets in a vain attempt to get in. Down the front, if the crowd jumped around you at the same time, you had no choice but to follow. I couldn't move. It was a wedge of sweating, pulsating bodies, excited to the brink of explosion.

Juliette Lewis was dynamite. Fuck acting. This was reality. Nipples protruding through a flimsy white T-Shirt emblazoned with the words "Public Servant", her face contorted with high-octane energy as she pumped out the lyrics. When she arched back and revealed her belly in full I was fixated. I don't think I have ever seen a taughter, healthier midriff on any woman. She moved, jumped, and whirled like a cross between a Tasmanian Devil and a goddess. Paul Ill on bass and 'Hercules' on drums were tighter than a mother superior's fanny, and the two guitarists put on a fantastic show of 6-string drivin' force.

And then to cap the whole thing, Lewis did the very thing I had seen her do on a video. I couldn't believe she would do it here, not in mundane Munich, but when the outro of the last song began she launched herself onto the audience (in fact she seemed to actually launch herself directly at Johnny Filth personally). The crowd carried her above their heads, nearly touching the ceiling of the club. A dozen or more pairs of hands, including mine, sent her backwards for her exit. The last vision of her I recall, was when a flashgun blitzed; she was a few centimetres under the roof, head leant forwards, with this incredible grin all across her face. Man, what a show-woman. Let's see the little miss-wannabe's like Brittney or Kylie go crowd surfin'. I am 1000% certain that you will never get the chance to see this act again in such a small, tight little location. They're gonna be BIG.

Still, although somewhat close, the event cannot be compared to seeing The Clash come on stage at Brixton Academy in 1978; Topper Headon machine-gunning the drum intro, before the lights came up full blinding white, and the band launched into I Fought The Law for the first time live anywhere. That still ranks as the most intense gig I ever went to. Even the colour in my baseball boots ran into my socks and feet that night.

Iggy Pop, The Ramones and The Jam are also up there in my top ten concerts. Iggy, only dressed in pink DM's and a pair of pink Lycra shorts doing an Olympic dive into the pit, and The Ramones coming on stage at The Lyceum (London), drums thumping out a jungle beat, and a deep blue haze growing out of the backdrop until you could see the two guitarists up on top of the speaker stacks belting out the intro. The white lights came on full and Joey screams "LOBOTOMY!". The Jam was different, but no less exciting. I was 15, it was 1977, and they were doing these incredible leaps on stage whilst playing. Maybe The Dead Kennedys also make the cut. The striking thing about Juliette Lewis though is, she is SO like Iggy live. AWESOME!!!

The only downer of the night (apart from the crap support band) was the (mostly) German audience, standing like fuckin' lemons at the front with arms folded, then getting all shitty when the REAL revellers piled down the into pit and started going crazy. Fuck 'em I say, and fuck 'em even more today for all the bruises on my ribcage. If you want to fuckin' fold yer arms and be mindnumbingly boring, then go drop an E, fuckin' die and start listening to house music.

I went with my band. Afterwards, on the U-Bahn Julie was drained and destroyed. Johnny recalled the entire event in 30 seconds at 100,000 words per minute and at 220 decibels. I was just gob-smacked.

I am now going to soak in a hot tub and hope the aching stops at some point. Shit, I'm getting too old for this. Maybe I should get a pipe and slippers and get into jazz? Fuck Off! I ain't dead yet.

So Sin, was the gig good then ?

Yes, twas rather spiffin' old chap

(I hurt like hell today)

it was foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookin' ACE...they rocked, the atomic cafe rocked but only really at the end ...on the dancefloor were a few stiffs just wanting to watch rather than pogo/headbang/do the camden lurch, etc and as i wrote to a mate of mine this morning:

' ...i am still getting over holding juliette lewis last night as she crowd surfed over me ...my left hand was on her left butt cheek ..my right on her lower back directly under the disco ball ...and nope, no abuse went on ...i was simply in awe of this rock n roll whore ...what a gig !!'

missed the support band as we were lager-ing it up in the Hofbraeuhaus ...were they any good ? Our Bavarian umpah band were blinding

Juliette & The Licks was a HAPPENING !

You didn't miss much mate. They were from Amsterdam, and the singer had a heavy Dutch dialect in his singing. It was fairly basic stuff. The bassist looked like a short version of Lurch from The Munsters, but the Japanese drummer wasn't bad.

Hey,

Saw that woman on Stefan Raab's show last night. She was somewhat conservatively dressed in comparison to your description, but she is certainly tasty. Stefan sang with her which was very funny too.

She will no doubt get very big.

I saw the Stefan Raab thing last night and had to turn the channel. I can't stand him, he's always got to get himself in the spotlight and he was screaming the lyrics over Juliette. Ugh.

Boy, am I glad I don't have a TV.

On reflection I think that the main problem with the gig were all the arseholes who turned up to see a Hollyweird actress, rather than a fuckin' kickin' rock and roll band. Some bird who tried to get into the pit behind me said "WOW! You know the lyrics!" as I screamed along with the band. Then she has the gall to add "This is much better than Robbie Williams."... WHAT THE FUCK!!! That's like comparing Barry Manilow to The Sex Pistols. Sure, Juliette Lewis has the burden of the Hollyweird actress hangin' round her neck like a millstone, but by fuck, she should ditch the acting and stick to rock and roll - way more fun. OK, many people probably turned out just because of who she is. I know the music, I've never seen a single one of her films, and I'm not really interested. I don't dream about her naked. I just love the return to proppa kiss-ass music.

As I missed the gig due to work (ah the rock and roll lifestyle) I just want to say thanks Sin for the brillant report on it. Very well written. Almost as good as being there but without the sweaty t-shirt, buzzing ears and aching joints (over 35 year old music fans will know what I'm talking about).

Shamless plug for Sin as TT 's inoffical roving rock reporter.

Does that mean Editor Bob will sub my concert tickets from now on?

Probably not but you can forge up a press pass and I'll get you a shitty stick for beating off the groupies with.

GROUPIES???

At MY age???

I've got a 40Kg bass amp - I need roadies NOT groupies, otherwise I'm gonna need to get a longer guitar strap pretty soon. I reckon a 14 day tour and I can scratch my ankles without bending over.

Well I've humped gear for a band in Ireland for a few weeks one summer (and as bottom feeder in the rock and roll food chain that's all you were humping). Good fun though. So I could take over the carrying and stick waving duties for a nominal fee, and at my age "will work for beer" is cheap.

Would you believe it Yeti... last Saturday we did a really big gig in Dachau. They gave us a bloody dressing room to ourselves as the headliner band, packed with a buffet, a case of water, a case of coca-cola, a case of apfelschorle and two cases of beer (for 3 musicians). Because I had to drive the van back Johnny and Julie only emptied half of one case. We could have used your services to empty the remainder

So there I was, sitting in the bar at the Atomic with a bottle of August.
Sin kindly bought one for me JTL comes on.They play one song...starts the second and I feel there is something wrong...The crowd does not move!! What the hell??? Fu(k this I say to myself as I empty my beer and sets out to the front of the stage.

I politely asked to be let through but got a few elbows in my ribs anyway. Nice. HAHAhaha I laugh at you, you damn loosers. I wonder what they expected to see or get from going to this gig?? Go home and listen to Barry Manilow instead. (No offense Barry but I am sure you understand)

I made it to the front and directly started my pogo session. Some joined in others were going "hey what't the matter?? I can't see" blablabla see above.
I ignored it of course and hearing from Sin that he ould not get throgh anymore I guess the rest of the place started moving as well.

NOW THAT'S ROCK AND ROLL!!!

I had a fantastic time, thanks for getting me a ticket and a few beers Sin.
Attached is their setlist.